Overall the Falcon Heavy is 224 feet tall (68.4 meters) and can lift 53 metric tons into orbit. Its first stage is composed of three Falcon 9 rocket boosters, with a total of 27 Merlin 1D rocket engines.

Once the first stage has separated, the second stage fires its single Merlin 1D rocket engine to put the payload into orbit. Both stages burn kerosene fuel and liquid oxygen.